Round table

Yesterday I put on my business hat and spent the afternoon at “Art is Your Business” conference in Wells BC. Sat as a panelist in a Touring round-table discussion. This lead to the Q: how to invigorate the independent music scene in rural/smaller communities? A: Pretty straightforward take-away: reminder to connect and share ideas/resources among artists and presenters.

What was particularly inspiring was to hear from several local promoters keenly interested in putting on more shows in their towns. They are trying figuring out how to connect with audiences in their communities to get them to step away from their TVs & computers and engage in more live shows.

Glad to be part of this multidisciplinary conference: the attendees were primarily visual artists, with a smattering of writers and musicians in the mix too.

Landed

In Vancouver! Spending four nights/five days playing music on the cross-Canada train, a gal gets her “train legs”. Now, it feels odd to be not-moving! I’m laying low for a couple of days here in the ‘burbs of Van-town, then hopping on the bus back up to the Cariboo in time to be a panelist during the “Art Is Your Business” conference in Wells, BC next weekend. And then Europe next month to think about. Wowza buzzzzzzy buzz!

Train

Day four on the train across Canada: I’m in Jasper, Alberta on a train stopover (local time: 2:36pm.) Lovely to be back in the mountains! Quick wander through this adorable town, and sipping a proper double americano from the local bakery while waiting to be called on board for the last leg of the trip.

Feeling exquisitely relaxed, and have been enjoying playing to wee audiences of fellow travelers… pictures and stories to come!

Blue Moooooon

Finishing up my last minute Toronto to-do list before I hop on the train to Vancouver this evening. I’m part of VIA’s Onboard Musicians program, playing songs for the passengers as we shimmy across the country for four days/three nights. Super excited!

I’ve been learning some crooner tunes, mid to late 50s stuff mostly. As well as some ol’ classic sing-a-longs: ie “You are my sunshine!!”, which I’ll be sprinkling into my concerts along with my own stuff (six in total over three evenings.) The set up is really cool… audiences of 10 to 20 people at a time in the sleeper car’s various activity cars. Each one is kind of like a shared living room for the passengers over the four day/three night trip. Needless to say, it’s going to be intimate and unplugged. And I’m very pleased to be selected to perform for this!

As a bonus: I’ll be mostly away from internet and cell phone while on the train… a nice break from the screen for a few days :) before I hit the coast on Monday.

Mini Tour Wrap Up

So concludes my short tour of southern Ontario this past weekend with a pair of excellent house concerts. Friday night I played at Yellow Pearl House Concert’s inaugural show in Peterborough, Ontario. It was a warm, music-inspiring space thanks to host Mark Woolley… There was much laughter and singing along in the audience, and I predict many, many more wonderful hours of music ahead for the Yellow Pearl!

On Saturday night Dave & I headed to a place just north of Kingston to play for a delightful and VIVACIOUS audience. Even after the “show” was over, the show continued with an impromptu jam into the wee hours of the night. I even had a chance to rock the drumkit for a few tunes. Kelly & Matt sure know how to throw a fabulous party!

I was joined by Dave Tough for both shows — it was GREAT playing two nights with my longtime music pal! He’s a fabulous singer-songwriter: if you have a chance, check him out!

Creative Fire

Sitting on the patio of the Brownstone where I played last night. Great to hear Tyler Knight’s tunes; he opened the night with a mixed set of originals and cool covers (including a great one by Amelia Curran… wow.) It was an animated crowd, and I confess I didn’t crawl into bed until sometime after midnight (uh, more like 1am?) And on a school night!! Managed to crawl back out of bed at 8:30am and made it down to the Orillia Youth Centre where I…

…just finished the youth songwriting workshop in Orillia with six highschool students & one of their teachers participating too. We started the day talking about lyrics and a bit of “song theory”, then in the second half they broke in groups and wrote brand new songs in ONE HOUR!. Wowsa! Three amazing new songlets (mostly written… and they’re all stoked to go home and finish them.) It was a real pleasure… and honour… to be among these young writers. Their creative fire was inspiring!!

Now I hop in the car and head to Peterborough for a house concert with Dave Tough. What a great weekend of music this is turning out to be!

Culture days

The first of my final three shows during this brief stop in southern Ontario happens tonight. I’m heading off to Orillia to play at The Brownstone Cafe, then Peterborough on Friday and Kingston on Saturday. I believe there are still a few tickets for these shows, though seats are limited so you probably want to reserve ahead (especially Peterborough & Kingston.) Check my tour dates page for info about any of these shows.

Let me add that on Friday during the day, I’m also facilitating a one-day songwriting workshop during my stop in Orillia for a group of highschool students as part of Ontario Culture Days! I’m very excited and honoured to be working with this group of young writers. I’m curious to hear their words and to see what inspirations come out of our time together!